to fall into the wrong hands
17
6.3
- idiom
:
caer en malas manos
- We need to ensure that the classified documents do not fall into the wrong hands.
- information falls into the wrong hands
- weapons fall into the wrong hands
- guns fall into the wrong hands
That means your private details, your passwords, your communications, browsing history and more will be completely shielded from falling into the wrong hands.
- That means your private details, your passwords, your communications, browsing history and more will be completely shielded from falling into the wrong hands.
Examples
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I'll die before I let that key fall into the wrong hands.
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The more information you store, the worse it is when it falls into the wrong hands.
Blog text (32) -
If it ever were to fall into the wrong hands...
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I must get there first to ensure her powers will never fall into the wrong hands.
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If this were to fall into the wrong hands...
Fiction book (1996) -
Nuclear power is too dangerous and can fall into the wrong hands.
Blog text (32) -
Your search data should never fall into the wrong hands.
Blog text (3) -
And if they fell into the wrong hands, it could mean trouble.
Blog text (10) -
Keep them from falling into the wrong hands.
-
We now have a lead which shows that some of the weapons have fallen into the wrong hands.
Antonyms
How Secure
5
3.4
17
6.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
fall + into + the + wrong + hands
The meaning is readily deducible from the parts: 'fall' + 'into' signals a change of state or transfer, and 'the wrong hands' clearly denotes possession by undesirable or unauthorized people, so the overall sense 'come into the possession of harmful people' follows compositionally. The metaphorical use of 'hands' for possession is frequent cross-linguistically and this verb+preposition + noun pattern is a regular, transparent construction that a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer.
Etymology
Fall into the wrong hands comes from the simple image of something that falls and ends up in someone else's hands, like a thief's or a person who will use it for harm. So it means 'to become accessible to people who are not allowed or who may use it for harmful purposes'.